Insecurity in Balē, Ethiopia: the road to the 1960s mass Rebellion and state failure

This paper examines the historical roots of insecurity and state failure in Balē, Ethiopia, culminating in the mass peasant rebellion of the 1960s. Drawing on official correspondence, administrative reports, oral evidence, and secondary sources, it analyzes how imperial expansion and exploitative governance generated persistent instability. The study argues that unrest stemmed from administrative failure and acute socio-economic oppression, including heavy land and cattle taxation, forced conscriptions for the Asälla – Gobba road project, corrupt external officials, arbitrary justice, and the brutality of the Näč̣-läbash. Dispossession of rist lands, settler influx, pastoral restrictions, and population pressures further deepened alienation. Resistance evolved from early movements led by Mohammed Gäda Qallu and the Kulub networks to collective defiance such as the 1953 Dirrē Sheikh Hussein incident. External influences, particularly the adjoining colonial powers and Somali irredentism, intensified divisions. The article argues that the 1960s rebellion in Balē, a crisis of imperial governance at the periphery, driven by entrenched administrative exploitation, forced monetary conscription, coercive violence, and the Kulub factor, leading to mass violence and a breakdown of state authority that fundamentally altered state – society relations.